tuque /tūk/ n Canadian English, var. toque[19th c. Canadian French, from the French toque, from the Basque tauka] 1 A close-fitting knitted cap, often with a long tapering end or tassel or pompom. 2 fig Something quintessentially Canadian.

souq/sūk/ n from the Arabic سوقvar. souk 1 An open-air marketplace. 2fig A central meeting place for the circulation of news and ideas.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Canadians in the Middle East: Heather Hulkenberg

From the Calgary Herald: Canadian ex-pat and children's author Heather Hulkenberg, who lives in Dubai, has found an eager audience in her adopted home-away-from-Canada.

Her forthcoming children's book, her third, to be titled Peri's Perfect Plume, is "the tale of a peacock with less-than spectacular plumage who travels the world with a helpful, bearded Sheikh in hopes of finding some feathers to purchase.

"[W]hat makes her kid-lit success so remarkable is that her popularity is not limited to the children that attend the numerous expat schools there. She has also found an eager audience in the insular world of Dubai's Islamic private schools, where the children of some of the richest and most powerful Arab families attend."